Songwriting with the 90/10 rule

The best tip I ever got was from an incredibly clever lecturer from my university. He advised me that the most 'successful' music tends to be 90% familiarity, 10% originality.

This helped me to stop worrying about trying to be revolutionary with every rhyme, rhythm and chord change (which, by all accounts, seems to be impossible these days in the wake of so much progress).

I got back to a songwriting style that was more about expressing an idea I believed in, or an emotion I needed to offload, and let the originality come from the fact that it was me saying it. (Ego-alert!).

Also, the online rhyming dictionary kicks arse!

Posted by don at 08:02 AM

Use melody notes not in the chord you are singing over for unique melodies in your songwriting

Here's a fairly simple melody trick if you find your melody lacks color or emotion.

Try using melody notes that are not in the chord you are singing over.

In music theory these are called these non-chord tones. Even if you don't know theory you can find these non-chord tones. Play the individual notes of the chord you are singing over and then try to avoid singing the notes in the chord. You'll probably notice that some notes work better than others and each will have a unique sonic and emotional color.

Posted by don at 05:41 AM

Zen arts as songwriting

The late Harlan Howard had a songwriting tip to take an existing melody and rewrite the words. Then using the new words rewrite the melody. This is similar to the Zen arts where students model the forms of masterworks.

The good news is that those masterwork forms--after much familiarity through repetition--become embedded in the subconscious. And the subconscious, if you let it do its job, will naturally recombine and alter the forms. This is the long way to say it’s probably a good thing if your work resembles other work you admire. How could the Zen arts and Harlan Howard be wrong?

Posted by don at 03:02 PM

Put your song melody to the test

Consider this, when you hear someone whistling a tune, what is it that they whistle? The chord progression? No. The bassline? Obviously not. The guitar riff? Very unlikely. It is almost universally the vocal melody of the song. The vocal melody of the song is what sticks with most people; and in many cases is what makes them like or dislike a song (whether they realize that is the case or not.) If your melodies are well-written and catchy, people will remember and enjoy your music. If the melodies you write are carelessly written and bland, they won't. It's that simple.

Try putting your music to the test; imagine you are hearing your music being played as muzac at your local shopping mall. No lyrics, no guitar riffs, just a syrupy string section behind a trumpet playing the melody of your song. How does it sound? If a melody is strong, a song should sound good, no matter what style it is played in.

Posted by don at 08:43 AM

Use the same chord progression for the chorus and verses

Try writing a song where the chord progressions for the verse and chorus are exactly the same. This will force you to create wildly different melodies while being stuck with the same two chords.

A different melody for the verse and chorus will quite often 'imply' different chords. A combination of different melodies and different rhythmic feet will also help separate the two parts of the song even more.

For those of you that know some theory, it is like playing a I,IV,V arpeggios over a single chord. Even though it is only one chord, the arpeggios over the top of the single chord 'implies' additional chords - even though you are only playing along to one chord.

Posted by don at 03:31 PM

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